booooom.

Kaleo! bless your hearts. here's a newsletter i just sent out, sorry if you didn't get it, but be encouraged and get out to new york sometime it'll great!
Love you all. Scotty.







Dear Friends and Sponsors
A sermon that our senior pastor, Bill Wilson, preached during a staff meeting has stuck with most of the staff all semester. It stemmed from Nehemiah 6:3, where he is rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, says that he is doing a great work and cannot come down. When we follow Christ actively, we are doing a great work. The cost may be great, but we are doing a great work. No matter how difficult a day, it always seems that there is one kid that says “I love you”, with such desperation, wanting someone to say it back to them. One of the kids I visit was leaving to see his brother for the weekend, and before he left he said goodbye to me at least five times, telling me he was going to miss me and that I would see him the following week. They notice something, something different. They notice that you don’t yell at them, that you don’t curse, that you’re not mad all the time. I’ll never know what it meant to Brandon that I stopped to watch his baseball game. I don’t know how to react when Leah tells me she sees ghosts and demons after dark. There’s so much in this place that I don’t know how to react to, but the gifts I’ve been given have me placed here for a reason. We are doing a great work.





It seems like this whole semester there has been tragedy for the kids and people in the various areas we do ministry. A family was killed in a fire. A child was mauled by a dog. There have been 4 shootings right across the street from our office in the last two weeks. A teen from my area of the Bronx was stabbed 21 times over 10 dollars. And yet here we stand, still doing Sunday school, recognizing the urgency all the more. We are doing a great work. This isn’t said in a prideful way, as in this is the only great work, but nevertheless, it is a great work. The danger is, as in the case of Nehemiah, that there will always be people to come against that work. The devil will always plant seeds of doubt, using whichever vessel that is willing. As some of you know, I spent the majority of the semester waiting for a pending Visa to be approved, the source of income stopped, and an additional job of promotion to add to the pace of life. Plenty of reasons to come down from the wall. But I’m doing a great work. Again, not to sound proud of this or arrogant, but when God gives a job to be done, it is considered a great work. So be encouraged. The work here in New York is not taken lightly or the opportunity taken for granted. And the work that you are doing is to be taken with equal importance. You are doing a great work!
The summer brings a trip to Canada for me, and I’m bringing along Louisa for the trip, so in the end of August I’ll be around! Looking forward to connecting with you again!


“I have put My words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of My hand”
- Isaiah 51:16
(Thanks to Mom for encouraging my team with this verse this semester!)


For the next few months if you could pray for:
Hunts Point (South Bronx), for deeper relationships with the kids, for an increased urgency in my heart, and for rest during the off-semester.


Honestly, I would feel so lost without you that support me in prayer and financially. And I know that the excuses run wild for me here with business and not enough time, but I really want to say thanks. You are taking resources of yours and investing them in me and I appreciate that a bunch. You are the best!
Blessings.
Scott.

It's My Life!

Hello my dear family!
It has been quite a while and I would love to hear updates on all your lives! And it just so happens that we have this great blog that is just perfect for that very purpose!
Now for what is happening in my life:
I have now finished my 3rd year at Waterloo and only have one more year and I will be done my undergrad degree, which is a crazy thought, because I clearly remember the end of Kaleo and really not looking forward to university and thinking how 4 years would be forever. But the time has flown by and been great. At times that schoolwork can be overwhelming but for the most part I really enjoy what I am learning. I have also been blessed with a wonderful group of friends at school that make everything much more fun but are also a great support when that is needed as well in my faith and just life in general.
This summer I am also studying for my LSAT (Law School Admission Test) to write that in the fall in order to get into Law School after my undergrad. Though I am also considering taking a year to do something else, liking volunteering abroad or doing a masters or really anything before going to law school, so if anyone has suggestions for that year, I would love to hear them.
As for the summer, I am working in Timmins, which is in Northern Ontario, with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) with their Aboriginal Neighbours program for 4 months. I have been up here for about 1 month now. They do advocacy with First Nations and I am helping out with that, wherever the help is needed. So far I have been focusing on clean water, food sustainability and mining, which are areas of such concern that First Nations, especially in the Far North are facing. I am enjoying it so far and learning a lot about these issues and about partnering with the First Nations people. It is a huge challenge seeing the impacts of the past actions of the church done in Christ’s name, in the form of residential schools and understanding how to show God’s love to people that have been so hurt in the past. God is teaching me how to seek justice in his strength, though I still have a long way to go in figuring that one out. You can check out the work that MCC does up here in Timmins and what I am helping with:
http://ontario.mcc.org/aboriginal
While I am here I’m living with the parents of one of my roommates from school, which really is a blessing, since they have kind of just adopted me as their daughter for the summer.
In another area of life, I am dating a great young man, named Jesse. We have been dating for about 6 months now and it is really wonderful. Right now we are pretty far apart for 4 months because he is down in Waterloo area, which is less than ideal, but it is still going really well. We met at university back in first year and have been friends since then and it was quite a process to say the least but finally in December we decided to start dating. God really had his hand on the timing throughout the whole situation. So the past six months have been a learning experience in that area but also a great blessing.
I think that is all for now.
I love you all and think of you often.
Be Blessed,
Catherine

An Adventurous Summer!

Hello everyone!
So i've decide to change my path this summer. Instead of going along in my schedule work, church, youth, work church... oh yeah social life.....no.... work, youth, church. though i enjoy aspects of all of what i do, all together and so busy has not been good on my joy, anger, anxiety or motivation level. So, i quit my job! This summer i will be going to MOntreal with our Sr. high youth for a 14 day missions trip. Then craig and i will be going to my cabin for 7-10 days then its August. At the end of August i am going to help out with our Jr. youth day camp but in between i'm making plans! I would like to volunteer at Qwanoes or another camp for a week and i am open to all other adventurous things! So if you are going on an adventure or know of an opportunity let me know because i'm looking!!
I do ask for your prayers as i am trying not to be nervous about the fall when i have to find a job again but i know this is what God wants for me right now! And even in the fall i wont be doing too much instead i will be even more active in our youth Ministry as Ross Road which i'm very excited about!!!
Thanks everyone!

Jenny